In addition to the two vessels from the burial at Mound A, ceramic
specimens comprise a total of 562 sherds. The paste of these sherds is
characteristically sherd tempered, occasionally with the addition of
small quantities of sand and/or bone particles. There is no shell
tempering. Study of the sherds indicates that bottles, jars with
outcurved rims, carinated bowls, and possibly other forms are
represented. Exterior surface treatment includes brushing, smoothing,
polishing, and red filming; smoothing and red filming also occur as
interior surface treatments. Techniques used in applying decorations are
incising, engraving, appliquéing, and punctating.
The small quantity of sherds did not permit reconstruction of any
vessels nor of any complete design elements: consequently correlations
between techniques of decorating, design elements, vessel shapes and
surface treatment were impossible as a rule, and a comprehensive
typological analysis of the ceramics could not be made.
The ceramics were separated on the basis of decorative technique into
six groups: brushed, incised, appliquéd, punctated, engraved, and plain.
Each group is described separately below.
_Brushed Pottery_
Of the 141 brushed sherds, 13 are rimsherds and 128 are from body areas.
The brushing is always on the exterior surface, the interior surfaces
being poorly to fairly well smoothed. Wall thickness ranges from 5 to 9
mm. Lips are rounded and slightly everted.
Clay lumps of varying sizes—evidently ground up sherds are visible in
the paste of most sherds, and 39 of the 141 brushed sherds also contain
bone tempering. There are particles of sand in all the sherds, a few
having so much that their surfaces have a distinctly sandy feel when
rubbed between the fingers. Paste colors range from creams and buffs to
fairly dark grays, with most sherds falling into the lighter shades of
buff, brown, and gray—indicative of oxidation during firing. Some sherds
have light exterior surfaces and dark interior surfaces, suggesting that
the vessels stood upside down during firing.
Most of the brushed sherds could not be definitely identified with any
specific pottery types; however, several sherds were assigned to the
types Bullard Brushed of the Frankston Focus (Suhm _et al._, 1954: 252
and Pl. 9) and Pease Brushed-Incised of the Bossier Focus (Webb, 1948:
110-113 and Pls. 11 & 12; Suhm _et al._, 1954: 338 and Pl. 53).
There are 17 Bullard Brushed sherds, 13 of them from the body of a
single vessel, the other four from the rim of another vessel (Fig. 13,
A-B). All were found at Mound C. Both vessels were barrel-shaped with a
slight, evenly curved constriction in the neck area. There were one or
more horizontal rows of punctations made with a blunt stick separating
the body area from the rim area on both vessels, but there was no angle
at the juncture of the body and the rim. On the vessel represented only
by body sherds, the brushing consisted of short, overlapping strokes in
random directions, creating a roughened exterior of uneven appearance.
The rim treatment of this vessel could not be determined. The other
Bullard Brushed vessel was represented by four rimsherds which fitted
together. The rim of this vessel curved outwardly and was evenly brushed
in a diagonal direction. A horizontal row of punctations appeared at the
bottom of the rim. Both Bullard vessels were relatively large with wide
mouths.
Six of the brushed body sherds (Fig. 13, C, D, G) were identified as
type Pease Brushed-Incised because they have vertically brushed sections
separated by vertical appliqué strips. Five are from Mound D, the other
from Mound A. Five of the six have closely spaced punctations or
indentations pressed into the strips. One of the Pease body sherds (Fig.
13, D) is attached to a portion of the rim which is brushed
horizontally. On this sherd there is a marked angle at the juncture of
the body and the rim, and a horizontal row of small punctations made
with the blunt end of a stick is impressed along the line of the angle.
Other Pease sherds with incising instead of brushing are described
later.
The other 118 brushed sherds were not assigned to definite types, but
will be described here as a group. In all or most of the vessels
represented by the miscellaneous brushed sherds the coiling method was
employed. Fractures along coil lines, and vessel curvature on some of
the larger sherds, made it possible to orient 30 of the brushed body
sherds with respect to the vessels from which they came. The brushing on
all 30 is in an approximately vertical direction (Fig. 14, C-D). The
nine rimsherds, in contrast, are all brushed horizontally (Fig. 14, A-B)
except for one which is brushed diagonally. On one sherd containing
portions of both body and rim, the body is brushed vertically and the
rim horizontally. The body and rim areas are separated on this sherd by
a horizontal row of small, closely spaced punctations made with a
pointed instrument. On three of the nine rimsherds there are similar
single rows of punctations just below the lip.
The miscellaneous brushed sherds appear to have come, by and large, from
jars with outcurved rims, the bodies brushed vertically and the rims
brushed horizontally. The body and rim areas were probably separated in
most cases by a horizontal row of closely spaced punctations made with
the end of a stick, and similar rows of punctations were placed on some
rims just below the lip at the top of the brushed zone. The juncture of
the body and the rim usually formed a distinct angle. There is the
possibility that some vessels with brushed bodies had plain or incised
rims, or, conversely, that some with brushed rims had plain or incised
bodies. The horizontally brushed rims, some with punctations, are quite
similar to the rims of type Pease Brushed-Incised, and it is quite
likely that some of the brushed sherds came from Pease vessels. It is
also possible that some of the brushed body sherds are from vessels with
incised rims of the Maydelle Incised type (Suhm _et al._, 1954: 324 and
Pl. 46) described later.
_Incised Pottery_
Thirty-nine sherds with incised lines were found at the Harroun Site, 31
of them body sherds and the other eight from rims. The incised sherds
are all sherd tempered with varying amounts of sand included in the
paste. Bone tempering is also present in eight. Surface colors are
predominantly light browns and grays, indicating an oxidizing atmosphere
during firing. The characteristic surface treatment of the exteriors is
smoothing (done before incising), and all the interiors are smoothed.
Wall thickness varies from 4 to 8 mm. Two sherds have red slips.
Eleven of the incised sherds have vertical or diagonal appliqué strips
marking off the vessel body into panels, each panel being decorated with
parallel incised lines (Fig. 13, E-F). These have all the
characteristics of Pease Brushed-Incised body sherds, and they have all
been assigned to that type.
One sherd (Fig. 14, E) with punctation-filled incised panels is
unmistakably from a bowl of type Crockett Curvilinear Incised of the
Alto Focus, Gibson Aspect (Newell and Krieger, 1949: 98-101 and Fig.
36). This sherd has a straight rim with a squarish lip; the exterior was
smoothed before decorating and the interior is poorly smoothed.
Decoration consists of a portion of one curvilinear panel outlined with
incised lines and filled with small, crescentic punctations. Part of a
crack-lacing hole is retained on one edge of the sherd. This specimen
was found in a disturbed area at Mound B.
A sharply incurving rimsherd (Fig. 13, H) with four parallel incised
lines in the broad, flat lip is from a vessel which was not of
traditional Caddoan shape or decoration. It was found over four feet
deep in Zone IIb of the floodplain near Mound A. The incurving rim, the
flat lip, and the position of the incised lines are all quite similar to
styles of the Lower Mississippi Area—especially as exemplified by the
types Coles Creek Incised and Chase Incised (Ford, 1951: 74-77). Another
interesting feature of this sherd is a bright red slip which covers both
the interior and the exterior surfaces.
A second sherd (Fig. 13, I) with characteristically Lower Mississippi
design is also from Zone IIb of the floodplain. This sherd came from the
neck area of a jar and has portions of a decorated rim and a plain body.
The decoration consists of two sets of parallel lines crossing each
other at an angle so as to form a series of diamond-shaped elements.
Inside each diamond is a triangular punctation made with the corner of
an angular instrument. There is an abrupt decrease in wall thickness at
the bottom of the rim so that a typically Lower Mississippian
“overhanging line” effect is produced. In design and general execution
this sherd is similar to the type Beldeau Incised (Ford, 1951: 81-83) of
the Coles Creek period in the Lower Mississippi Area, but its paste
appears to be more in the Caddoan than in the Baytown tradition.
The 25 incised sherds not assignable to any specific type comprise five
rimsherds and 20 body sherds. Fifteen of the body sherds bear thin lines
sliced into the plastic clay with a sharp instrument; the other 10 were
incised with a blunt-tipped implement which gouged out, rather than
sliced, the lines. Two sherds (Fig. 14, G) have a horizontal row of
closely spaced punctations in the neck area. Of the five rimsherds, one
has three widely spaced, horizontal, incised lines; three (Fig. 14, F)
have a design of widely spaced, cross hatched incised lines; the fifth
bears traces of two horizontal incised lines on the lower part of the
rim above a plain body. Some of the smaller body sherds could have come
from Pease Brushed-Incised vessels and the three rimsherds with cross
hatched design could well be from Maydelle Incised vessels.
Thus the 39 incised sherds include at least 11 from vessels of type
Pease Brushed-Incised, one is type Crockett Curvilinear Incised, and two
appear to be intrusions from the late Coles Creek period of the Lower
Mississippi Area. The unidentified sherds are all typically Caddoan in
their general characteristics, and three of them may represent type
Maydelle Incised of the Frankston Focus.
_Appliquéd Pottery_
The decorative technique of appliquéing occurs commonly at the Harroun
Site, principally in combination with brushing and incising on the type
Pease Brushed-Incised described above. However, there are five sherds
with appliqué strips but with no traces of brushing or incising (Fig.
14, J). Paste characteristics of these sherds are the same as for the
previously described appliquéd sherds of the Pease type, and it is
believed that they are from vessels similar to Pease Brushed-Incised
except that the panels on the body were left plain instead of being
filled with brushing or incised lines.
_Punctated Pottery_
As stated in previous sections, horizontal rows of punctations occur
commonly in combination with brushing on the rims of jars, and
punctations also appear in vertical rows on appliqué strips applied to
the bodies of Pease Brushed-Incised jars. Thus punctations seem to occur
most commonly in association with incising, brushing, and appliquéing.
However, eight sherds have punctations as the only decorative technique.
Four of them have sections of single rows of closely spaced punctations,
all made with the ends of sticks or similar implements (Fig. 14, H). The
other four sherds (Fig. 14, I) are covered with small, free punctations.
On one of the latter the punctations were made with a blunt stick; the
other three have paired fingernail impressions.
The punctated sherds are all similar in paste characteristics. All are
sherd tempered and one also has a small amount of bone temper. Exterior
colors are light to medium brown and gray, while the interiors tend
toward darker shades of the same colors. The exterior surfaces were
smoothed before the punctations were applied; the interiors are also
smoothed.
The punctated sherds are not distinctive enough for typological
identification.
_Engraved Pottery_
Only two complete pottery vessels were found at the Harroun Site, a
carinated bowl and a bottle, both engraved and both associated with the
burial beneath Mound A.
The carinated bowl (Fig. 12, B) has a flat, round base and a compound
rim which turns sharply inward at the shoulder to form a narrow, almost
vertical panel approximately 1.5 cm. high. Above this panel the rim
turns sharply outward to form a second panel extending to the lip. Four
equally spaced peaks rise from the upper panel of the rim. The bowl
stands 9.5 cm. high and measures 21.0 cm. wide between opposing rim
peaks. Both the exterior and the interior surfaces have been well
smoothed, and marks of the smoothing tool are clearly visible both
inside and outside the vessel.
The lower rim panel of the carinated bowl bears a stylized version of
the interlocking scroll design, featuring broad, deep, engraved lines
with small excised zones. The upper rim panel has elongated triangular
designs on the rim peak areas with broad, parallel, vertical, engraved
lines within the triangles. An almost identical bowl is pictured by Suhm
_et al._, (1954: Pl. 57, I) as an example of the type Ripley Engraved.
The engraved bottle (Fig. 12, C) has a broad, squat body and a tall neck
with expanded rim. Total height is 23.1 cm. The body is 12.8 cm. high by
18.3 cm. wide; the height of the neck is 10.3 cm., its minimal diameter
is 4.5 cm., and the oral diameter is 5.5 cm. An interlocking scroll
design is repeated twice (slightly asymmetrically) on the body, and some
of the engraved lines have small, pendant triangles which are hachured
or excised. There are also several cross hatched, triangular elements.
The exterior surface is dark gray in color and has been well smoothed.
The bottle has been identified as an example of type Ripley Engraved
(Suhm _et al._, 1954: 346 and Pl. 59).
In addition to the two vessels from Burial No. 1, examples of the
engraving technique appear on 107 sherds from the Harroun Site. The
paste of these sherds is fairly consistent in being fine grained and
relatively hard, and all appear to have sherd temper. The paste of the
engraved sherds also contains moderate amounts of sand, and 23 of them
have bone particles added as a supplementary tempering agent. Surfaces
are smoothed, both on the interior and exterior, and the exterior
surfaces of several sherds are highly polished. Fractures along coil
lines indicate that manufacture was by the coiling method. Wall
thickness ranges from 3 to 7 mm.
A big majority of the engraved sherds are from the rims of carinated
bowls with rounded, out-turned lips, but several are from the bodies of
bottles and one is from the rim of a jar. Most of the sherds are small,
having sections of from one to four engraved lines which are too
incomplete to reveal any distinctive design elements: consequently no
typological affiliations can be determined for them. There are some,
however, which can definitely be assigned to previously recognized
typological categories.
On four sherds (Fig. 14, L) are small, excised, diamond-shaped elements
enclosed by concentric diamond-shaped lines, and two sherds (Fig. 14, K,
M) are decorated with swastikas enclosed by circles. Both of these
designs are known only on the type Ripley Engraved; therefore there is
no hesitation in identifying these six sherds as Ripley. Two other
sherds with portions of Ripley-like designs were assigned to the same
type.
One sherd (Fig. 14, O) from a small carinated bowl is decorated with a
curvilinear interlocking scroll design characteristic of the type Taylor
Engraved (Suhm _et al._, 1954: 360-362 and Pl. 65). Another sherd (Fig.
14, N) from an engraved bottle appears also to be of the Taylor type, as
does an engraved rimsherd (Fig. 14, P) from a jar.
Four sherds came from the lower neck region of a bottle. A single,
fairly heavy, engraved line filled with red pigment encircled the base
of the neck, and the neck contracted sharply toward the top in typically
Gibson Aspect style. The paste is fine grained in texture and almost
black in color. The exterior is well smoothed and polished, but the
interior is very poorly smoothed, as is usual for Caddoan Area bottles.
The wall of the neck is 6 mm. thick. This bottle is almost certainly a
Gibson Aspect form, possibly type Hickory Fine Engraved of the Alto
Focus (Newell and Krieger, 1949: 90-91 and Fig. 33; Suhm _et al._, 1954:
294 and Pl. 31). It was associated with the floor of House No. 3 at
Mound B.
The other 92 engraved sherds could not be identified with any specific
types. However, they all are from carinated bowls and bottles
characteristic of the Fulton Aspect, the forcefully engraved lines of
many suggesting Titus Focus in particular. An interesting note is the
occasional widening of an engraved line by a series of closely spaced,
gouged out lines, creating small zones which are not quite completely
excised (Fig. 14, K). The identical technique was noted by E. Mott Davis
(1958: 61) at the Whelan Site, located on Cypress Creek about 15 miles
below the Harroun Site. This treatment is similar in a general way to
that of the type Poynor Engraved of the Frankston Focus, but the design
elements on which it occurs, both at Harroun and Whelan, are
characteristic of Titus Focus (types Ripley, Taylor, and Wilder
Engraved) and not of Frankston Focus.
In general, the engraved pottery at the Harroun Site indicates Titus
Focus affiliation, the only exception being the one Gibson Aspect bottle
fragment. Ripley Engraved is the most common type, but type Taylor
Engraved and probably type Wilder Engraved are also present.
_Plain Pottery_
A total of 260 plain potsherds was recovered from the four mounds and
the trenches in the floodplain. Paste of the plain pottery contains
varying amounts of sand, and all or most of the sherds are tempered with
ground potsherds. Bone tempering is present in 31 plain sherds. Wall
thickness varies from 3 mm. for the thinnest body sherds to 13 mm. for
some basal sherds.
The surfaces are smoothed and some are highly polished. Sixteen plain
sherds are red filmed, seven of them on the exterior surface only and
the others on both the inner and outer surfaces. Paste colors are mostly
browns and grays, with shades ranging from very light to quite dark.
Carinated bowls, bottles, and probably other vessel shapes are
represented. Many of the plain sherds undoubtedly came from vessels
which were partially decorated; others probably are from entirely plain
vessels. Of the 14 rimsherds, seven are large enough to show that the
rims of some vessels were not decorated. No definite types were
recognized.
_Miscellaneous Ceramic Objects_
A perforated pottery disc (Fig. 14, Q) made from a sherd was found at
Mound C. It is 32 mm. in diameter, 8 mm. thick, and has a biconically
drilled hole 10 mm. in diameter in the center. The outer edge has been
partially ground smooth and the two flat sides are fairly well polished.
The sherd from which this artifact was made is buff in color, clay
tempered, and the paste is fine textured and compact.
A small, conical, ceramic object (Fig. 14, R) was unearthed at Mound B.
It appears to be the tip of an appendage that has broken off an effigy
vessel or a pipe bowl. It is oval in cross section, and the distal end
contracts to a blunt point. The buff-colored paste is fine grained and
compact; the surface is poorly smoothed. This object measures 18 mm.
long and its maximum diameter at the proximal end is 8 mm.